Christmas cookie baking party

December 10, 2012

Saturday was my family’s annual Christmas cookie baking party. My mom, aunt, sister-in-law, sister, my brother’s girlfriend, my niece, Juliet and I are gathered at my house to bake up a frenzy. Six gals, two babies, a few mimosas, flour everywhere and about six hours later we had cookies. Lots and lots of cookies.

I slacked on my photography duties and missed snapping shots of a few we made toward the end.

I love this day. It’s the second year my family has gotten together to bake cookies and I’m looking forward to doing it every year around the holidays. I love my family. I love making new traditions.

Pictured above are my sister-in-law, Nikki’s awesome Farmhouse Chocolate Mint Cookies. My brother’s girlfriend, Katie (we call her Lumbie) made pizzelles. She brought over her pizzelle maker and it made a really cool hissing sound when the batter hit the hot metal. My mom and aunt getting down to business. My mom’s friend knitted Juliet and Chloe (my niece) adorable hats. As I was going through these photos I noticed that my baby girl doesn’t look like such a baby anymore. She is getting so big!

Also on the list of cookies were Snickerdoodles. My aunt Chris made Frying Pan Cookies. Lots and lots of ingredients ready to make a mess. And of course we opened a bottle of bubbly. Lumbie also made these tasty Honey-Roasted Peanut Butter Bars with Chocolate Ganache. Christmas Cornflake Wreaths are classic and so simple. My faves. My niece Chloe and Juliet are such cuties. But taking photos of two squirmy babies is super challenging. I managed to quickly snap this one before they took their hats off. The little girls had fun hanging with all the ladies and playing with each other. It’s so fun to have cousins so close in age.

Melissa – I forgot the sea salt, which probably would have made a difference. Also, these cookies have grown on me over the past couple days. They were super crumbly right away but set a bit over time. I really liked the ganache on top.

Ahh the sea salt, I have done that so many times with these cookies. I’m going to leave a note in the recipe to let them sit awhile before serving. The ganache softens them up nicely. Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it!